Audi Digital Showroom

The largest car retail digital signage network

The slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik” means “leading through technology,” and it is intrinsically linked to the Audi brand. It signifies a corporate strategy devoted to setting new standards through the adoption and use of technology. This vision led Audi to decide to use digital media to energize and educate customers about the values of the Audi brand. Retail showrooms present an attractive physical environment, complete with custom furniture and a high-quality digital network, to create an immersive and exciting backdrop for the main attraction, the cars.

The creation of the Audi digital showroom was part of a comprehensive program, designed to offer dealers around the world a wide range of Audi-certified products and services to enhance the look and feel of their dealerships, enable the latest information to reach customers quickly, and facilitate a controlled environment for branded communication that offered local customization of content.

This program led to the most sophisticated retail showroom digital media network in the world.

The Challenge

Audi’s global network of retail showrooms differ in size, location, geography, language, currency and time-zone, requiring customization to reflect these differences, including regional pricing and other dealer-specific offers. Audi had to cater to a variety of content and commercial requirements, and the marketing team needed to design a digital system that dealers could purchase in packages to best match their needs, ambition and budget. Because the Audi digital showroom system was to be bought by dealers using their own marketing budgets, Audi was challenged to demonstrate that the network would positively contribute to their businesses performance.

The Solution

Customers experience four distinct types of digital media within each participating Audi dealership. Each is
specifically designed to provide customers the information they need in a high-quality format to support the high standards set by the Audi brand. Digital content created by Audi’s marketing team for use in the Audi digital showroom includes advertorial films, Audi sporting and corporate events, Audi news, and features on culture, innovation and concepts.

First, the Audi TV module comprises a large screen built into customer-branded furniture that allows the screen to operate as a freestanding unit within the dealership. Often located in the waiting area, the screens show a mix of carefully crafted, highly branded audio and video material that is both visually exciting and customizable to each dealership.

Secondly, the Presentation Element uses model-related films to showcase key features, benefits and uses. These screens are next to the vehicle to act as a reference guide for customers, to bring the static product to life. Audio maximizes the impact of the content to create a theatrical presentation.

The third type of screen is the Digital Info Element, which depicts dealer-specific content such as pricing, test drive, warranty and extra services and packages, including financial services and after-sales support. These custom units also contain paper brochures and other printed materials for customers to take away.

The fourth digital touch-point for Audi customers is the Audi Configurator, which allows them to select the type, style, color and capacity of the vehicle they’re interested in and specify a range of items to personalize their vehicles. The digital system allows customers to make more informed decisions about options.

All of Audi’s digital media content is created by Audi’s marketing team and made available to dealers via a custom portal that enables them to download only the content they require. This content could be editorial and advertorial films or branded templates that enable localized customization and the display of dealer-specific information within a defined template structure set by Audi’s marketing team.

Audi’s digital showroom is made available to dealers via the proprietary portal to provide seamless and efficient content management and distribution between head office and the dealerships. This provides a guarantee that the final content presentation will be onbrand and on time all the time.

The digital showroom initiative provides Audi with a scalable, worldwide platform from which Audi can provide their dealers with the highest quality branded media. “With Audi, we have created an internationally applicable communication system to reach customers and staff with high-quality, engaging and informative content at the point of sale. The intelligent content using Scala makes it possible to distribute Audispecific content with just one production in multiple languages and worldwide, which saves Audi time and enormous operating costs,”

“With the help of the system we have the ability to assure high-quality content in every dealership worldwide. At the same time the dealer has the chance to place his own local messages within this Audi-branded content,” said Liane Scheinert, Head of International Customer and Retail Marketing for Audi.

“So far over 600 retail showrooms in more than 70 countries across the world are using the Audi digital showroom concept to help them engage and educate customers from the moment they enter the showroom to the point of closure with the sales advisors.”